BROADWAY SECRETS: Wherein we confess our controversial opinions

While I think Angela Lansbury is a national treasure, I think she was an awful Tony Awards host. I know it was more the style, but she was so presentational, careful and scripted. Her introduction of numbers on the Tonys back then was almost as overcooked as her portrayal of Jessica Fletcher. (Oddly enough, these days she seems so much more unguarded and genuine when speaking on stage)

I think Sutton Foster was miscast in Anything Goes. I also think she walks and dances like a surprisingly athletic hunchback. (Though when she's cast right she's dynamite)

I LOVED Bernadette Peters in Follies -- without reservation.

I love Cats and I won't apologize.

I think Audra McDonald's singing is often strident and shrill.

I think Adam Guettel is wildly overpraised for his limited talent. He's written some gorgeous songs, but I don't think he's written a great score all the way through - yes - Piazza included.

There is a thread entitled: Unpopular Opinions You Hold (or something very close to that) that does this very thing.

If we're not having fun, then why are we doing it?
These are DISCUSSION boards, not mutual admiration boards. Discussion only occurs when we are willing to hear what others are thinking, regardless of whether it is alignment to our own thoughts.

Hey! I remembered the title right! Pretty amazing for my advanced years.

If we're not having fun, then why are we doing it?
These are DISCUSSION boards, not mutual admiration boards. Discussion only occurs when we are willing to hear what others are thinking, regardless of whether it is alignment to our own thoughts.

When I see the phrase "the ____ estate", I imagine a vast mansion in the country full of monocled men and high-collared women receiving letters about productions across the country and doing spit-takes at whatever they contain.
-Kad

I thought Laura Osnes was far and away a better Nellie Forbush than Kelli O'Hara.

I loved Elena Roger as Evita.

When I see the phrase "the ____ estate", I imagine a vast mansion in the country full of monocled men and high-collared women receiving letters about productions across the country and doing spit-takes at whatever they contain.
-Kad

I think Broadway is too slick these days. The actors don't have the sparkle that actors years ago had. I don't think Mary Martin (who I always affectionately thought of as a warbler rather than a singer) could make it in a musical today.

I used to think Betty Buckley was a wonderful singer. But the more I listen to her, she has a metallic quality in her voice that I don't like.

I never "got" Bernadette Peters as being considered the chief interpreter of Sondheim. Cleo Laine's Sondheim album is superior to anything Bernadette attempted.

Neil Patrick Harris bores me.

Faith Prince never got her respect as a Broadway diva. Her performance of "Holding to the Ground" in Falsettos (albeit off-Broadway) was brilliant.

Joe Papp would be ashamed at what Shakespeare in the Park has turned into - selling the best seats to corporate sponsors.

If anyone ever tells you that you put too much Parmesan cheese on your pasta, stop talking to them. You don't need that kind of negativity in your life.